3 Steps to Build an Inclusive Workplace for People with Disabilities

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People with disabilities have the skills, qualifications and legislation for employment. Yet, results have failed to live up to the expectations and needs of the disabled community. Dr. Armand Bam, University of Stellenbosch Business School, and Prof. Linda Ronnie, UCT School of Management Studies, explore why and offer a blueprint for effective disability inclusion strategy.

3 Steps to Build an Inclusive Workplace for People with Disabilities, a CoBS Research Pod based on the work of Armand Bam and Linda Ronnie.Related research: Inclusion at the Workplace: An Exploratory Study of People with Disabilities in South Africa, Armand Bam and Linda Ronnie: International Journal of Disability Management (2020), 15, e6, 1–9

Getting people with disabilities (PWD) into employment is one of the hotter social impact topics on the agendas of governments and corporations alike in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hope carried by the wish for the “New Normal”, the backdrop of the UN SDGs and movements such as #buildbackbetter, has added weight to the issue.

Much legislation has already been passed in many developed and emerging economies providing companies with frameworks and guidelines for tackling the challenge. However, setting the rules of the game and actually complying with them has proven difficult to do. And in many respects, the results have failed to reach the expectations and needs of the disabled community, as unemployment within this group rises.

Research carried out by Dr Armand Bam, Stellenbosch University Business School, and Professor Linda Ronnie, UCT School of Management Studies, sets out to explore the case of South Africa and hits upon findings that can well-serve the rest of the world in a practical way when setting up and implementing initiatives for the employment of people with disabilities.